The Family Curse
by hotchocolateandcinnamon
Summary: How far would Henry go to get the family that he's always wanted? We all know that Regina and Emma aren't exactly the best of friends - let alone family, and when Mr. Gold comes up with a solution for Henry that would bring Emma and Regina closer, Henry is desperate to accomplish it. But all magic comes with a price…the question is, how much is Henry willing to pay?
1. Chapter 1

"No." The whisper is barely audible, escaping from the woman's pink lips in a small, sharp hiss of despair. "No," she cries again. "No, no, no!" The strangled cries get louder and louder until they morph into screams of pure agony and anger. She rocks backward and forwards, cradling her son's lifeless body and whispering frantically into his ear; words that he will never get to hear; never get to understand.

"I love you Henry," her voice catches and a fresh wave of sobs tears her body apart, the sound ricocheting through the hospital room, bouncing off the towering white walls and echoing and magnifying the immense pain that is tearing the woman apart.

She was his mother for two years. Just two. A year from when he came to find her in her flat in Boston, a year that had been the best of her life. She finally had something to fight for, and more than that, she had what she'd always wanted: love. He gave her a reason to live, and that was exactly what Emma needed to keep fighting, to keep herself from fading away again. There was nothing she regretted more than abandoning him the way that she was abandoned all those years ago, but she had no choice. She was eighteen – she couldn't have been his mother even if she tried. All she wanted was to give him his best chance, and, as much as it hurt her, his best chance wasn't with her.

A tear rolls down her cheek as Emma comes to the realization that she would do it all again, if only it meant that she could have Henry back – she would live through the heartbreak, Neal, Tallahassee, her 11 month prison sentence for a crime that she did not commit. Even the years of neglect and loneliness, distrust and self-hate that were the years she spent in the foster system. It was something Henry taught her, see: love makes sacrifices. And Emma would sure as hell sacrifice her own happiness for her son's life.

Tears run down her pained face in a waterfall of agony, splashing onto her white tank top and dark blue jeans and onto her son's pale face, which is wet from the beads of sweat that coated his pale face from his last moments. His eyes are shut, although a single tear is still rolling down his cheeks and his mouth is slightly parted, his last words still lingering on his pale, parched lips.

"I love you, mom."


	2. Chapter 2

Regina Mills is sitting at her desk when her phone rings. She jumps, startled, and reaches out a clumsy hand for the phone. Looking at the caller ID, she frowns, having not expected a call from Emma Swan today. She lifts it up to her ear half-heartedly, not in the mood for one of Emma's angry rants about Henry.

"Miss Swan, unless you're going to tell me that you're leaving to China tomorrow morning, then I'm completely uninterested in what you have to sa-" Regina broke off when she heard sobbing at the other end of the line.

"Miss Swan?"

"It's Henry," Emma chokes out, her voice muffled. Regina stands up suddenly, knocking the lamp off the table.

"What?" She says, perhaps a little harshly. What is it?"

"He-" Emma stutters, then takes a breath to steady herself. A deep, dark pit of worry forms itself in Regina's stomach and something tells her that this is bad, very bad. "He was hit by a car on the way to school and he's...he's dead, Regina." Emma explodes into a fresh wave of sobs and Regina's face and heart crumple simultaneously.

"Where-where are you? Where's Henry?" Regina whispers as tears slip silently down her pale cheeks and drop onto the paper that she was working on earlier.

"At the hospital. Please hurry, Regina. I...I can't do this on my own."

"I'm on my way," Regina chokes and staggers blindly out of her office.


	3. Chapter 3

"Where is he?" the mayor demands. "Where's my son?"  
Doctor Whale looks sheepish. "Right through there, ma'am." He points a hand down the corridor. "Fifth door on the left."  
Regina runs down the white halls, trying desperately to hold back the tears that block the back of her throat. She flings the door open and sees Emma sitting on the site of the bed, her head on Henry's chest. The sheets on the bed are already wet with tears, and something about seeing her son looking so pale, so vulnerable – so _lifeless _– makes Regina stop dead in her tracks.  
"Regina?" Emma sniffs.  
"I-" Regina looks so helpless and so lost in this one moment that Emma takes Regina's hand in her own and squeezes it gently in what she can only hope is reassurance.  
"It's okay," Emma tries to tell her, even though they both know it's not. How can it be?  
"Don't touch me," Regina spits at Emma, who pulls away sharply, tears stinging the back of her eyes. "This is all your fault!" Regina continues, her voice shaking with rage. "Ever since you wound up in Storybrooke my son has been getting into danger time and time again."  
Emma is on her feet now, and she can feel the anger raging through her veins, boiling her blood and making her head pound.  
"Don't you dare," she spits. "Don't you dare pin this on me."  
"And what exactly makes you so certain of your innocence, Miss Swan?"  
Emma narrows her eyes. "The fact that the reason Henry came to get me in the first place was because he thought you didn't love him."  
Regina looks as though she has been slapped in the face. For the first time since Emma met her, the mayor is speechless.  
"Do you know what that does to a child, Regina? To constantly feel unloved, like you're worthless? Those sorts of things – feeling like nobody loves you – can mess up a kid pretty bad. _That's _the reason I came back to Storybrooke; because Henry said something…he said that he had a mom but that she didn't love him, she only pretended to."  
Emma saw something flash behind Regina's eyes: hurt maybe, or anger. But when Regina finally speaks, it's not what Emma expects at all.  
"You think that I don't know what it's like to be that child?" she whispers, and Emma realises that the flash in Regina's eyes was the same look that Emma herself had when she was growing up. The same look that she had recognised instantly when she saw it in the eyes of the Lost Boys back in Neverland. She just hadn't recognised the look when it was in Regina's because it seemed to out of place. Seeing that tiny spark of vulnerability in the eyes of someone who's normally so strong and, well, _emotionless, _felt strange and unbalanced.  
"Regina…" Emma tries.  
"You've met my mother," Regina ignores her. "Do you honestly think that she could ever love me?"  
"She wanted what was best for you."  
"If that were true she wouldn't have murdered my fiancé!" Regina cries suddenly, again expressing the new vulnerability that Emma had noticed just moments before.  
Emma looks shocked. "She…what?"  
"You heard me. She murdered the man I loved. Ripped his heart out and crushed it right in front of me, then left me in the stable to cry over his dead body before she forced me to marry the king."  
"Regina…I-I didn't know."  
"Of course you didn't. You were back in the Enchanted Forest when Whale brought Daniel back from the dead and he tried to kill me and Henry."  
"What?!"  
"I had to kill him…watch him die, again, and watch my son blame me for what happened…" Regina's eyes are filling with tears and she doesn't even try to stop them now as they flow freely down her pale cheeks. "I don't know why I'm telling you this," Regina wipes her cheeks furiously. "You don't care."  
"Regina, as much as we have our…_differences…_I do, you know. Care."  
"You do?" Regina looks up at her. "Well, Miss Swan., for the record, I care too. A bit." Emma smiles slightly, her face still wet from tears. "And I suppose you have as much against me as I do you. I ruined your life several times over, I believe."  
Emma shrugged. "My life has been ruined by more people than I can count. You're definitely not the first."  
"Then…I guess we're good?"  
Emma shrugs. "Good," she agrees.

"And, Miss Swan…I was wrong to blame you for what's happened. I know this wasn't your fault. But I need someone to blame besides myself and you were here and you took my son away from me and…" Regina dissolves into tears again, and Emma pats her on the shoulder in an awkward attempt at reassurance.  
Just then, Mary Margaret and David stumble in, and Emma collapses into their arms, her body shaking with the violent sobs that wrack her body from head to toe. Regina turns away, knowing in the pit of her stomach, that no one will ever be there to comfort her.


	4. Chapter 4

_TWO WEEKS EARLIER_

_The door to Mr. Gold's pawnbrokers shop swung open, the familiar tinkling of the antique bell notifying the old man of the new visitor's presence. Mr. Gold looks up from his desk to see his grandson bounding up to him, his tear stained face reflecting the dim lights hanging on the walls of the shop._

_"Henry?" Mr Gold asks. "What can I do for you?"_

_Henry wiped the tears furiously from his pale face._

_"It's my mom," he sniffs._

_"Which one?" Mr Gold grins, pleased at his attempt of humour._

_"Both," Henry replies._

_"I'm sorry, I don't understand." Mr. Gold looks confused - which is a first - at Henry's dilemma._

_"Ever since Maid Marion came back from the past with Emma and Killian, Regina and Emma hate each other even more! It's just...when I was younger all I wanted was a family. Now I have Emma and Mary Margaret and David and you and Regina. I even had a real dad for a while before...you know."_

_There is a brief flash of pain behind Mr. Gold's well-masked eyes, but it is gone as soon as it came and he frowns, unsure of what the young boy is asking._

_"Now I have more family that I could ever have dreamed of having, and I couldn't ask for anything else. It's just that it seems like I always have to choose between Emma and Regina, and I can't have both. I want them both to be happy, but I also want to be happy and I don't know what to do!"_

_"I know this might be hard for you, Henry, but I don't think I'm the right person-"_

_"But you are! I have a plan, Gramps."_

_"Gramps?" Mr. Gold snorts, amused by the young boy's nickname for him._

_"Yeah! You know, because now that I have two sets of Grandparents, I have to call you something, don't I?"_

_"Two sets?" Mr. Gold looks confused. Henry's real grandmother was Milah, but she died years ago._

_Henry sighs, as if it were obvious. "You and Belle, silly."_

_Mr. Gold smiles at the mention of his new wife's name. "What's her name, then?"_

_"I don't know yet," Henry admits. "Everything seems too formal."_

_Mr. Gold chuckles quietly to himself._

_"Stop trying to change the subject, Gramps." Henry scolds the old man, who holds his hands up in defeat._

_"So what's your plan?" he says, playing along._

_"I was thinking. The times when Emma and Regina worked together best was when they both had a common goal, right?"_

_Mr. Gold shook his head slowly. He knew where this was going._

_"So I thought: what if the thing that both of them love the most...well, you know. Died."_

_"What?" Mr. Gold shouts. "Henry, you are not killing yourself for the friendship of your parents! They are not worth that!"_

_"I'm not going to kill myself, silly. I thought that you could put a spell on me, like the one I was under when I ate Regina's pie, only instead of true love's kiss breaking the curse, it would be Emma and Regina who break it when they finally learn to get along."_

_"Henry...I don't think I can do that...it could go badly wrong."_

_"But it won't!" Henry protests. "I have faith! You saw how they were before Marion came into the picture - they were almost like friends! If they did it once, then they can do it again. I'm sure of it."_

_"Well..." Mr. Gold hesitates. "We can surely try. But what will we tell them?"_

_"Tell them I was hit by a car, that I'm dead."_

_Mr. Gold sucks in a breath. He hated to think that he had come to care for the boy, but he knew that he had. More than he thought he could actually. It was just that he looked so much like Baelfire had when he was his age and...well, he didn't want to let Henry down the way he had betrayed Bae._

_"I need time," Mr. Gold said. "Two weeks."_

_Henry nodded. "I knew you could help me, Gramps!" He calls as he runs out of the shop._

_"Wait," Mr. Gold calls after him, suddenly curious. "Why did you think I could help you and not anyone else?"_

_Henry pauses for a moment. "Because, you know what it's like to have a broken family, and you can see past illusions. The Charmings can't have that because they only see what's right in front of them, and not the bigger picture. And besides, who else could enact a curse this powerful?" Henry grins and runs out of the shop, leaving the door to swing shut behind him._


	5. Chapter 5

"Emma," Snow's voice cut through the silence that had divided the small attic room since Henry's death. Emma hadn't said a word to either of her parents, and it broke Snow's heart to know how much her daughter was hurting. Emma sat at the table, clutching a mug of hot chocolate and staring at the wall. "Emma, please talk to me."  
"What's there to say?" Emma murmured. "He's gone."  
"I don't want to say that I know how you're feeling, Emma, but I do know that I . . . me and your father, we, lost you."  
Emma shut her eyes and clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles turned white and her nails cut into her flesh. She winced and opened her eyes, the sudden light in the apartment making her feel dizzy. She took a shaky breath and glared at her mother. "How…how can you even say that? You have _no idea _how I am feeling. You didn't even remember that you lost me until you'd found me again! You have me now and I'm alive and well and you're alive and well and everything's perfect for you! My son…is gone!" Emma choked on the last word and shoved her mug across the table. She pushed back her chair and ran up the creaky wooden stairs of the apartment.  
Emma buried her head in her pillow and sobbed. She wrapped her fists up in the blankets of the bed and didn't even try to stop the sudden, crashing grief that washed over her body, churning in her gut and her stomach and twisting like knives in her heart. The embers of grief burst into flames inside of her, and everything she'd ever felt suddenly came crashing down on her, burying her under a smouldering layer of agony and despair. She realised then, lying there on that messy double bed, that grief never truly goes away. You can't fix a heart once it's been broken – you can only bandage it up with fake smiles and laughter and reassuring gestures of "I'm okay" and "don't worry about me." The embers are always there, but they could rage into a fire at any point. Emma's heart can never be fixed – it's been broken too many times to ever have even a chance of repair – and there is nothing that breaks one's heart more than the utter, reconcilable pain of losing a child.


End file.
